TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Long queue on Cipali toll road as exodus starts
Snailâs pace: Thousands of vehicles grind to a halt at the entrance gates to the newly opened 138-kilometer Cikopo-Palimanan toll road in Purwakarta, West Java, on Sunday
Change Size
Snailâs pace: Thousands of vehicles grind to a halt at the entrance gates to the newly opened 138-kilometer Cikopo-Palimanan toll road in Purwakarta, West Java, on Sunday. Traffic is expected to worsen on Javaâs main highways in the lead-up to the July 17 and 18 Idul Fitri holiday.(Antara/Sigid Kurniawan) (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
S
span class="inline inline-center">Snail's pace: Thousands of vehicles grind to a halt at the entrance gates to the newly opened 138-kilometer Cikopo-Palimanan toll road in Purwakarta, West Java, on Sunday. Traffic is expected to worsen on Java's main highways in the lead-up to the July 17 and 18 Idul Fitri holiday.(Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
A long queue of vehicles has already been seen on the West Java Cikopo-Palimanan (Cipali) toll road five days prior to Idul Fitri, as Muslims begin their homecoming travels to celebrate the day that marks the end of Ramadhan.
The queue of vehicles on the toll road, which was recently opened by President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, was reported to have reached up to 10 kilometers long as the Idul Fitri exodus began over the weekend.
'We pay the toll road fee just to enjoy 10 kilometers of congestion,' a traveler wrote on his Twitter account as quoted by tribunnews.com on Sunday.
National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said that the operation of the Cipali toll road would not automatically free travelers from congestion.
As an extension of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road connecting to the Palimanan-Kanci toll road, he said, the Cipali toll road created a potential for congestion at the toll exit areas.
With the operation of the Cipali toll road, he said, congestion would move to the exit gate of the Pejagan toll road.
'Vehicles can create a long queue as they exit the Pejagan toll road,' Badrodin said in Jakarta on Saturday.
In Semarang, Central Java, the state-owned Donbosolo ship on Sunday morning dropped off 2,500 passengers who enjoyed a free cruise from Jakarta, while a convoy of big buses ' also from Jakarta ' that offered free trips entered the city at midnight on Saturday.
'I traveled with my wife and our three kids,' said Asmat Aris, who was heading to Mlonggo, Jepara, Central Java, and was waiting for his motorcycles to be unloaded at Tanjung Emas seaport, Semarang.
Residing in Sentul, Bogor, Asmat said he brought along two of his motorcycles on board the ship, which carried some 900 motorcycles in total.
Meanwhile, as many as 22 state-owned enterprises reportedly provided free travel to more than 78,000 people to go to their hometowns for Idul Fitri this year.
According to a press release from the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, the companies' support for Muslim travelers was a part of their corporate social responsibility programs.
In a related development, state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina projects higher demand for subsidized Premium gasoline, especially along Java's northern coastal highway (Pantura), which annually becomes travelers' favorite route during mudik, the homebound Idul Fitri exodus.
The company predicts that daily demand for Premium gasoline will rise by 18 percent from an average of 76,258 kiloliters to 89,817 kiloliters during the 15 days before and after the Idul Fitri holiday, which will fall on July 17 and 18.
Pertamina marketing director Ahmad Bambang said on Friday that the increasing demand for Premium usually happened along Pantura, which was one of the island's most crowded routes.
The Transportation Ministry estimates the number of travelers using private cars and motorcycles along Pantura for mudik will reach 4.2 million people this year, up 7.5 percent from last year. Meanwhile, the number of travelers using public transportation, including air carriers, sea transportation, road transportation and trains, will reach around 20 million, or 2 percent higher than the 17.4 million people recorded last year. (prm/fsu)
